Improvement in combined lock and latch



' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. A. PROSEUS. Combined Look and Latch.

No. 212,052. Patented Feb. 4, 1879.

'witaesses; v iiaveater Wttotaen N. PETERS FHOTOUTHOSRAPHER. WASHINGTON-D. C.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. I

AQPROSEUS. Combined Look and Latch.

' No. 212,052. Patented Feb.4;1879.

witnesses,

MAW

UNITED STATES PATENT FFIGE.

ALFRED PROSEUS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE W. BURTON ANDTHOMAS MATTHEWS, OF SAME PLACE, ONE-THIRD TO EACH.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED LOCK AND LATCH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,052, dated February4, 1879; application filed October 17, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED PRosEUs, of Baltimore city, State ofMaryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks;and I hereby declare the same to be fully, clearly, and exactlydescribed as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure. 1 is a side elevation of the lock, the cover beingremoved. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the knob and spindle andtheir attachments. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the cover-plate, theknob and spindle being removed. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of theknob. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the spindle;and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the tumblers.

While in the accompanying drawings I have illustrated my invention asapplied to an ordinary outside lock, it will be evident from thefollowing description of its construction and principle that it isequally applicable to mortise-locks or other varieties.

My invention consists in a lock constructed as hereinafter fully setforth, and possessing points of novelty not here necessary to enumerate,as they are made the subjects of claims based upon the followingdescription.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the lock-plate, having theusual edge-flange a, post a, and holes a a for the securing-screws. Lugsc are formed upon the lock-plate, serving the purpose of guides for thelatch B. The latter is provided with the usual beveled end I) and'springb. A gravity-catch, I), is pivoted to a lug, 1/, upon the latch, andnormally rests upon a pin, 0, in which position its lip c is adapted toengage with the projections d upon the rings D when the latter arerotated, as hereinafter described.

Through the latch passes a pin, 0, to which is attached a block, 0,which, upon being rotated, lifts the catch 1) out of engagement with therings D, and prevents the retraction of the latch. The pin 0 passesthrough the coverplateA, (seeFig. 3,) which is slotted, as shown at aand a button, (3", is secured upon the end of the pin, by means of whichthe pin is rotated.

E is a post, made integral with the lockplate A, and threaded internallyfor the attachment of the knob spindles, a groove, 0, being formed onone side of the central aperture for a purpose which will bepresentlyexplained.

Upon the post E revolve the rings D, two in number, each provided with aprojection, d, for engagement with the gravity-catch of the latch, andwith a lug, d, for engagement with the pawls of the bolt. To each ringis secured a pin, (1, which projects through an aperture formed in thelock-plate and cover. These apertures (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1,and at d, Fig. 3) are made in the lock-plate and cover, respectively,above and below or on opposite sides of the post E, the object of whichis to prevent the weakening of the post.

F represents the bolt, which is slotted longitudinally, and in the slotare pivoted, at f f and H, the pawls ff and the locking-piece G, theshapes of these parts being indicated in dotted lines. The piece G has aslot, 9", from which lead lateral offsets g g, which engage with the lug9 as the bolt is shot forward or back. A spring, 9', serves to press thelocking-piece G into the position shown in the drawings. I upon thepiece G, as shown.

The operation of the parts of the look hereinbefore described may wellbe set forth just here, as the functions and operation of the parts ofthe lock situate in the knob are entirely distinct therefrom. Uponrotating either of the rings D to the right the projection d engageswith the lip c and retracts the latch, this operation being, however,complete before thelug d strikes the pawls f. Upon continuing therotation of the ring the lug (1 e11- counters the first pawl, whichsimply tips and allows it to pass. Upon striking the second pawl thelatter is forced down, carrying with it the piece G until thelug 9brings up against the upper side of the slot g. Further motion on thepart of the pawl being impossible, the bolt is shot forward, and the lugg engages with the proper offset from the slot 9 and locks the bolt.Reverse rotation of the ring D retracts the bolt in a similar manner.

The pawls f f normally rest thicknesses of door by being screwed intothe spindle, and retained by means of a set-screw, 0. (See Fig. 5.)

The terminal flange Z upon the end of the spindlefor retaining the knobis made integral with the outside spindle, while it is made separatefrom the inside spindle and conveniently attached thereto by screws, asshown in dotted lines, Fig. 2.

The spindles are slotted transversely, as shown, and in the slots areplaced a number of blocks, a n it, having each an opening for the key.The openings in these blocks or tuinblers are at unequal or arbitrarydistances from their ends, so that, wh en a properly-sh aped key, N, isinserted they will all be lifted into line and be within the spindle.

The knob K is adapted to fit snugly upon the spindle, and is slottedinternally at 7- 70 k, the part which fits over the tumblers a. Two ofthese slots k L are of a width equal to that of the tumblers, and arediametrically opposite eachother. The third slot, is, is situatedbetween them, and is of a much greater width than that of the tumblers.

I is apin of a length equal to the thickness of the lock and of athickness to fit loosely into the hole formed by the groove 0 in thepost E and the grooves on the threaded ends of the spindle.

The operation of the lock is as follows: The knobs K are placed upon thespindles in the position, as regards the slots k k 70, shown in Fig. 4,the tumblers n, of course, dropping into the slot k, the spindlesthemselves being secured to the lock in such position that the slots Mare vertical, allowing free play to the tumblers.

It will be seen that the knobs are free to turn sufficiently far tooperate the latch, but no farther, as the tumblers bring up against theside of the slot.

In order to lock the door it is only necessary to insert the key, whichraises the tumblers to a position within the spindle and admits of theturning of the knob to a distance measured by the length of the slot 61'in the lock-plate or cover. This motio ncauses the lug (1 upon the ringD to operate the bolt F ,through the medium of the pawl f. Uponwithdrawing the key the tumblers fall into the slot k, and the knob issecurely looked upon the spindle. In the locked position the oppositeslot K is, of course, exactly above the tumblers, so that a key havingan outline difiering in the least degree from that of the key properlybelonging to the lock will either fail to raise the tumblers clear ofthe lower slot, or else cause them to enter the upper one. In eithercase a failure to release the knob obviously results.

While I have hereinbefore described the pins (1, which connect the ringsD with the knobs, as formed upon the rings, I have in Fig. 2 of thedrawings illustrated an obvious alternative for this construction, thepin 6 being shown as integral with the knob and en terin g a hole in thering D.

To place the lock in position upon a door, the outside spindle and bothknobs are removed from the lock, and the latter is screwed in the usualmanner to the door, the post E being made to register with the hole forthe outside spindle. This latter is then adjusted to the door by meansof the screw-tip L, Fig. 5, and the spindle, being passed through theknob, is screwed home by means of the lockkey inserted in the key-hole,care being taken that the pin (1 is caused to enter the hole in the knobor ring D, as the case may be, and that the groove in the threaded endof the spindle truly registers with the groove ein the post E. Theinside spindle is then screwed home, and a pin, I, is passed into thehole formed by the registering grooves in both spindles and the post.The tumblers are next placed in the spindle, the knob passed over them,pressing the pin I home, and the terminal flange Z is screwed upon theend of the spindle. It is clear that the pin I effectually prevents theunscrewing of the spindles from the lock, which can only be removed fromthe door by removing the inside knob and extracting the pin I.

A salient feature of the lock is that no strain can by any possibilitybe brought upon the internal mechanism without first breaking thespindle or tumblers-a result which is cer tainly not likely to occur,owing to the great strength of these parts.

No relation exists between the size of the bolt and that of the key, asthe latter is simply called upon to raise the tumblers clear of theslots in the knob. This feature, as well as that of the obviousdifficulty of picking the lock, renders the latter especially applicableto the front doors of dwellings. These features are not, however,peculiar to my look.

It will be seen that the operations of the knobs upon the latch and boltare perfectly independent of each other, and the door to which the lockis afiixed may be'locked from within or without, in such manner as toneces sitate the use of a key for opening it from either side, and maybe so operated as to pre vent the entrance of one from without even ifprovided with a key. This result is attained by rotating the button 0,carrying the grav ity-catch I)" clear of the rings D.-

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a doorlook, a knob combined with and mounted upon a spindlerigidly secured to or integral with the lock plate, the said spindlehaving a longitudinal vertical slot containing a series ofgravity-tumblers adapted to engage with slots on the interior of theknob and lock the same, substantially as described.

2. In a door-lock, the combination of two knobs mounted upon stationaryspindles, on opposite sides thereof, and mechanism, substantially asdescribed, whereby either knob may operate either latch or boltindependently of the other, substantially as set forth.

3. In a door-lock, the combination of a longitiulinally-slotted spindlecontaining one or more tumblers, of a length equal to the thickness ofthe spindle, and a knob adapted to engage with the tumblers and bereleased by the insertion of a key into the spindle, as set forth.

4.. In a door-lock, the combination of a spindle containing tumblers, asset forth, and a knob having internal slots for engagement therewith,two of the slots being diametrically opposite each other, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

5. In a door-lock, the combination of a pair of knobs and stationaryspindles, each knob being locked upon its spindle by means of tumblers,as set forth, and mechanism whereby each knob operates both latch andbolt, or either independently of the other, substantially as described.

6. In combination with the spindle L, slotted as described, andcontaining one or more tumblers, the knob K, having internal slots 70 7ais, as set forth.

7 In combination with the post E, spindles, and knobs, the pin I andremovable flange l, as described.

8. In combination with the spindle and knob, the ring D, pin cl, andlatch B, as described.

9. In combination with the ring D, the latch B, gravity-catch b, andblock c,'adapted to be operated from without by abutton, G, as setforth.

10. In. combination with the latch B and bolt F, the ring D, having lip41 and lug d, as set forth.

11. In combination with the bolt F, having pawls ff, the ring D and lugcl, as described.

12. In combination with the bolt and ring D, the slotted piece G andpawls f f, as set forth.

13. In combination with the spindles rigidly secured to the lock-plate,and having tumblers n, the knobs K, slotted as described, and operatingthe internal mechanism of the lock by means of pins (1, as set forth.

14. In combination with the post E, the lock-plate and cover havingslots d on dia metrically-opposite sides of the post,'as set forth.

ALFRED PBOSEUS. Witnesses:

R. D. WILLIAMS, G. HENRY WILLIAMS.

